Hell Was A Castle, So Was Her Mind
by JessieBearxo
Summary: She had a past that crippled her. He had the cure to safeguard her future - though he was not the only one. Three sisters embark on a journey that could destroy them, though with two divided and one in over her head, will the name D'Amencourt come mean anything to them again? Or will they eliminate each other for the sake of hatred, jealousy, desire for love, or perhaps a crown?


**_(Visuals if you would like them!)_**

**Olivia: _(same as the show because casting was so damn great)_**

**Eleanor: _(Diane Kruger - because come on, she's a goddess!)_**

**Isobel: _( pin/485474034806549103/ have no idea who she is, but she is absolutely stunning!)_**

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><p><em><span>Chapter One.<span>__ Are You Ready To Enter Hell?_

_"I still do not understand why on earth you allowed her let bring that _mutt_ along with us, Eleanor. Honestly, it is stinking out the entire carriage with it's dreadful smell," Olivia complained, plugging her long narrow nose with two elegant fingers to emphasize her point as she looked at her elder sister Eleanor in disgust, before returning her attention towards Isobel, whom was lovingly combing through the aforementioned mutt's midnight black locks with her fingers. Eleanor narrowed her blue-green eyes in on Olivia, sending a silent warning when they connected with her younger sister's own sky orbs._

_Olivia had been warned previously not to rattle Isobel for fun – despite it being her favorite pass time – by both Lord and Lady D'Amencourt and Eleanor. It had been hard enough to convince her to get her into the carriage, it would have been truly impossible to get her in without her most trusted companion, Shadow. Olivia glared, turning her gaze back to the scenery of the gardens, her nose remaining plugged. Eleanor sighed, placing a hand on Isobel's lightly in an attempt not to startle her._

_The effort had not worked, however, as she released a shriek of surprise. Olivia clenched her jaw, while Eleanor smiled softly and desperately attempted to continue the brief eye contact, and praying to God that the attention she had shown the outer world for even the briefest of moments would retain. The fleeting glimpses of her former younger sister's curiosity gave her hope for a recovery, yet she knew that even after three years there was still a rode as long as the top of France to the bottom of Italy to overcome before her Isobel came back to her._

_"It's beautiful, isn't it Isobel? Everything is so green and vibrant – don't you just want to reach out and pluck a flower from a bush?" Eleanor asked, a careful smile on her lips, watching her youngest sister like a Mother would an early newborn. Isobel sucked her plump lower lip nervously with cream white teeth, looking Eleanor up and down gingerly before allowing the greenery a fleeting glance. Olivia scoffed from her position on the opposite side of the carriage, though said no more, knowing that her elder sibling would probably berate her when no eyes were prying for her corrupt actions. Eleanor simply ignored her, however, and squeezed Isobel's hand a little tighter. "Perhaps when we get to court we can take a walk together – all _three _of us, or just you and I if you would prefer? Get us better acquainted with the grounds we will be occupying for a while?"_

_Isobel's green eyes widened in fear, and she hurriedly retracted her hand from her sibling's grasp, burying it in the charcoal mane of Shadow and lowering her head in three swift movements. Eleanor's shoulders slumped immediately, and she leant in her head against their personal maid Claudia in defeat. '_Baby steps, Eleanor. She's fragile. One move at a time.'

_She had known that two requests were selfish and so utterly unobtainable – but the small response Isobel had given was too great for her to pass up on hoping that significant change would be evident. It was too much to ask, she knew that. By God – why was she so stupid to ask for more? Almost as if reading her mind, Claudia stroked at Eleanor's knee soothingly, offering a warm and hearty exhale, signifying shared disappointment in this lack of improvement._

_Shadow abruptly started snarling, causing a look of wonder to cross Isobel's face as she stroked the full-grown animal in concern. Eleanor couldn't help but watch Isobel in wonder, rather than cast her attention to what the usually silent dog was showing aggression towards. Her younger sister looked so… involved. It was beautiful._

_"Would someone please shut that disgusting little runt up – ah!" Olivia squealed, her head suddenly slamming into the thin wall of the carriage as the vehicle made an unanticipated halt, sending two more skulls bouncing into the plaster, and one very frazzled young girl onto the carriage floor. Shadow immediately growled more viciously at seeing his master's fright, baring his teeth towards the wall the other D'Amencourt sister's and Claudia were leaning against, while also backing towards Isobel to act as personal protection. Eleanor immediately jumped at the opportunity to help her younger sister up, hoping for even a few words of thank you to be uttered, though was scared off as Shadow bared his saliva-lathered teeth at her, before returning his threat to the previous unseen block in their path. Olivia glared at Isobel as if it were her fault, throwing open the carriage down and exiting, a furious expression covering her beautiful features. "I should have you beheaded, driver. First you find every deep crack in all of the French roads we cross to ride over, and then you almost get us stuck in a lake – now this? What is _this _anyway? Why have we stopped?"_

_"May I extend my own apologies, my Lady, there is no need to behead your driver. It was on my account your vehicle has been stopped. You see, the King's Road has been flooded, my Lady. There is no way to cross into French court unless by passing through the forest. I was just informing your driver of this before your… pleasant interruption," an energetic young man announced, a smile on his face despite the unsavory news that he had just delivered. Olivia narrowed her eyes in on him, unimpressed, and folded her arms across her chest in a graceful yet frighteningly intimidating manner. His smile wavered, yet only slightly. "I cannot control the roads, my Lady, I can only control the warnings of those attempting to pass them."_

_"Olivia, get back in the carriage at once! Driver, would you please thank this kind young man with fifty livre so that we can make our way to court? I need a long hot bath to ease my aching body from this journey, and the sooner I can get to it the better mood I shall be in for the rest of the day," Eleanor called in reply from inside the vehicle, interrupting whatever clever rebuttal she knew Olivia had planned to startle this young boy. She was very beautiful, after all – in fact, all of the D'Amencourt daughters were. All with the same sun kissed green hair, though with completely different shaded eyes. It was peculiar, really – though in the end when each could get exactly what they wanted through batting their eyelashes, what was the need to ponder such anomaly's? Eleanor gritted her teeth at the lack of approaching footsteps, and kicked open the carriage door. "_Olivia_!"_

_"Why must you spoil all the fun, Eleanor?" the bitter sister muttered, rolling her eyes at the pouch of coins tossed in direction of their 'savior' peasant boy as she re-entered the sour cabin. She wallowed as the carriage was turned to enter an opening in the green, vowing to herself the changes that would be made when she was in power. _'Once I am Queen no one will dare tell me what to do – not Mother, not Father, not _Eleanor_! All I have to do is win Francis's heart, and if I remember correctly, I departed with it in the palm of my hand.' _She smirked at the final thought, casting another disgusted glance in Isobel's direction as she settled back into her seat, before the darkness of the trees swallowed them._

_"I don't like this," Claudia stated immediately, sharing a worried glance with Eleanor as her voice hung in the suddenly thick and silent air. It was as if they had been taken into another world entirely. No sound existed other than the wheels of the carriage squishing in the mud ground, the breath's of all five beings inside the cabin hitting the crisp air in clouds of white, or the tapping of Olivia's shoe against the thin floorboards. She too was nervous, and as she peeked her head out of the open window slightly, she understood why. The entrance they had just passed through had been swallowed. It was as if they had been going through the densely forested area the entire journey. "I don't think this one bit."_

_Shadow replied in a low growl, agreeing with her feelings of uneasiness as he sat up and scanned the area once more. Isobel did not bother to stroke his hair down soothingly, she simply watched his face. Eleanor's eyebrows furrowed once more, curious to see how her youngest sister could put so much faith into a dog. Though if Shadow had saved her as many times as Shadow had saved Isobel, she would have probably entrusted her life in the hands of an animal as well._

_"Eleanor… what's happening?" Olivia asked, noting the grasped hands between both Claudia and Eleanor as best friends, as fond and co-dependent as Isobel and her mutt. She wished more than anything that her own best friend Nicolette was with her at this moment, though the bitter memories of the nuptials shared between Nicolette and some uncrowned Prince soured her longing, and she simply looked out the window in fear. "Eleanor… why is it so dark? Why is it so quiet?"_

_"I don't know, Olivia, I really do not know. Just stay quiet, little sister. We will be at French court soon. Don't worry," Eleanor replied, exchanging a tight smile with Olivia that read clearly as false the moment it painted her lips. Isobel continued to look at Shadow unblinkingly, as if waiting for a signal to jump and run. Eleanor leaned forward, attempting to look into the bright green eyes of the most fragile of the trio of siblings. "Isobel? It's going to be all right, you understand that don't you? There's no need to be scared."_

_Shadow released a bark, before turning his large brown eyes back to his master, as if interchanging silent information. Isobel's own orbs burned wildly, and her head snapped up violently to examine their surroundings. Even Olivia looked interested in her sister at this point – yet no sooner had her attention jumped onto Isobel did a blood-curdling scream erupt from above them, and the sound of snapping bones against a tree filled the air. Olivia froze in fear. Claudia and Eleanor gripped each other. Shadow and Isobel's eyes stayed locked together._

'To run, or not to run?' _weighed on her mind heavily, though the decision was quickly ripped from her as she was dragged from the carriage, and further from her sister's screams. Isobel herself shrieked, though no words other than the piercing shrill came from her throat as she kicked out against her attacker desperately, begging for someone to come help her. As a flash of gold hair darted in the other direction, however, she knew that no help would come._

_No help ever came. That was just the world they lived in._

_"Isobel!" Eleanor screamed, fighting her way out of the carriage as Claudia attempted to kick it open. Shadow, however, was nowhere in sight – causing Isobel to become greatly aware of the need to find the location he would attack from rather than the ape attempting to drag her into the depths of the forest. She forgot in the moment about Eleanor's desperate attempts to save her were overshadowed by a hulking figure with bared teeth coming up from a hilled area, and she immediately covered her face with her hands. "Isobel! Don't worry Isobel – I'm coming! Hold on!"_

'You can never rely on a person for safety, only your Shadow,' _she thought to herself bitterly, hearing the blood splatter beside her head as the throat was ripped from her man-handler. Shadow was nudging her with his wet nose in a second, and in response to his worry she yanked herself onto her feet before setting towards the carriage to aid her sister and another woman she had never registered to her memory. Their screams deafened her, though at long last – as she felt the hundreds of eyes upon her back of what could only be described as enemy – she yanked it off it's handles. Eleanor stared at her with wide eyes, before looking after her as she and Shadow darted in the same direction Olivia had departed in long ago, with Shadow beckoning for them to follow with a bark._

_Olivia's screams for help were audible as the wind whipped past Isobel, accompanied by the harmony of footsteps of not just a four legged companion and two pairs of legs, but hundreds of bodies blasting against the thick wind in hot pursuit of the escaping travellers. The faster Isobel ran, the more tired she grew – yet she pushed herself forward for reasons unknown to her. For the many dark thoughts she'd had, shouldn't she be reveling in this moment and offering herself up as bait? She shook her head violently, leaping over a fallen log and adamantly convincing herself that questions were better asked later. Safety was the one goal in mind._

_She spotted Olivia's green head in front of her, obstructed only by the sunlight that was a shining outline of her figure. She was never the athletic one after all; it was a miracle that she had not sprained her ankle while treading through the puddles littered across the leaf-fallen ground. Her desperate cries grew louder as she exited the brush, though not loud enough to drown the desperate pleas for Isobel's own help._

_She stopped in her tracks – surprised to be hearing her name screamed from her eldest sister, rather than whispered gently. Her green eyes viewed Eleanor's companion stuck on the tree branch from the hem of her dress, forcing Isobel to return in a run to the place of hell where she had just departed from. It took a matter of seconds to reach them, though what she viewed did not seem to be a good sign. Not only was the dress torn and ripped halfway up to the exposed skin of her thigh, it seemed the flesh of her limb was also mangled and ruptured. It was a horrible sight to look at – especially for someone as prone to fainting around blood as Eleanor was._

_Isobel wrenched the hem from the jagged branch forcefully, wrapping an arm of whom she assumed was their personal maid around her shoulder and helping her forward as quickly as possible – ignoring the winces and the hisses the woman expressed to show her obvious discomfort. Isobel did not care, however, knowing that each step she took was getting them closer to French court. She had never thought that she would count the steps to be on the ivy-green lawn once more as counting to their safe-haven. But she was._

_She had never thought she'd be prepared to re-enter hell. And she wasn't._

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><p><strong>Hey y'all, just a nice little uneventful... little bit eventful introduction chapter for you to my story 'Hell Was A Castle, So Was Her Mind'! Thanks for clicking on this story and reading it through, here's hoping that you liked it as much as I liked writing it, and if you did please feel free to followfave it - and if you really really liked it and want to make my day, feel even free-er to leave a little review for me in the review box!**

**Thanks for reading, Jess x**


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